puzzle 011
by minecraftfezzez
Summary: Professor Layton receives a letter from Luke, a blue box seemed to have appeared in Misthallery, what does it mean? the master has teamed up with an enemy from a friend the doctor knows quite well.. after the fifty year special for the eleventh doctor, after unwound future for Layton
1. the blue box puzzle

**i will update this story every week/day (no idea which one, sorry) have fun reading!**

Professor Layton was looking at a file at Scotland Yard, hoping to find some information on the puzzle he was solving at the moment. He put the file back as he heard a loud bang in the back of the room, followed by shouting.  
as Layton came closer he saw that Chelmey was yelling at Barton, who knocked over a rather large pile of files, seeming to contain the sickdays of all the officers.  
"Now clean that mess up or you'll have a desk job before tomorrow!"  
Barton didn't seem to like that idea and went to work sorting the papers right away.

"Inspector Chelmey, have you found the file i asked for?"  
Inspector Chelmey looked at Layton, clearly trying to remember where he had left them. "They must be in that file cabinet over there." Pointing at one in a far corner, covered in a thick layer of dust. "Just remember that some of the files can't leave the archive."  
Layton thankfully opened the top drawer and was greeted by a large cloud of dust, after waving it out of his face, Layton saw that the files were at least twenty years old. the papers had turned brown and were fragile. He grabbed a file that seemed to be quite new and looked at the picture attached to it, and there it was: a mysterious blue box.

Back in his office Layton looked at the information he had already gathered. Inspector Grosky was a great help, as he insisted to help Layton by questioning witnesses. He looked at the results and it seemed that most of them had seen the blue box around England, yet they had all seen different people coming out of it. It seemed that the most recent appearance was in London, near the shard.  
While looking at the file Layton heard the door, Rosa came in bringing some tea. She was always too kind for him. After thanking her Layton took a small break to drink the tea, suddenly noticing the absence of Luke again. It was hard to say goodbye, but at least they still stayed in touch.

Layton looked at the letter that had sparked his interest in this case. Luke had found the blue box as well, and asked if he could help to solve it. Layton grabbed the newspaper clipping that was attached to the letter: it said 'Mysterious blue box savior!' on the front page of the Misthallery newspaper that day. Almost everyone in the city had seen the blue box, and the man who seemed to own it. Professor layton slowly stood up and went back to his desk, he grabbed the sound recorder and started playing the recorded sound, it was a weird, groaning, wheezing sound that slowly disappeared in the background noise. Layton stopped the recording and laid it aside. He opened one of the files he had taken with him from Scotland yard. Maybe he could get some extra information out of it, at the second page Layton suddenly heard the recording start again, yet it seemed to be playing in reverse. Layton looked at the recorder, which still was on pause. Confused Layton looked behind him, and saw a blue telephone box slowly appearing in his office, replacing the table in the centre.

the phone box stood sturdy on the floor, the lamp on the top still slowly flashing, yet everyone said that it stopped flashing when it landed.  
The door suddenly opened, revealing the most recent of the twelve faces, yet now his usual smile had faded, and his eyes filled with sorrow.

"Hershel, i need your help."


	2. bigger on the inside

The doctor ran back to his TARDIS, he wasn't expecting this from the master, not this regeneration of him at least. The doctor quickly opened the TARDIS and ran to the console, turning one of the screens to face him. Jean Descole, from whom did he hear that name again?  
The TARDIS responded with showing a picture from a friend he met a long time ago.  
"Oh sexy, what would i do without you?" The doctor directly pulled a lever to his right to start the TARDIS and headed for london, hopefully he met him at the right time, it was a pain the last time he met someone in the wrong order.  
The TARDIS stopped and the doctor ran to the door, opened it, and saw the famed professor Layton.

Layton was stunned for a moment, half realising that the impossible just happened he stood up and slowly walked towards the man, who already got back into the box, Layton suddenly realised that the box was bigger on the inside. He took a step back, not being able to catch up with what was happening.  
The man seemed to notice this and looked like he had handled these situations before.

"This is the first time we meet, isn't it?". The man looked a bit disappointed.  
The professor tried to catch up a bit. "Who are you?"  
The man looked at him with a little smile, "I'm the doctor. Now it seems that this is the first time we meet, so it would be best to ignore the fact that it's bigger on the inside and let's get going, we need to pick up another friend."

The doctor turned and went further inside the box again,not looking at the professor. Layton took a deep breath and went inside the box, hearing an ambient sound upon entering, like the box knew someone got inside. Layton was baffled, he now stood in a round room, on a small bridge between the exit and a center platform. In the middle of the room was a pillar with blue light that stretched from the top to the bottom of the room. Around the top of the pillar were three rotating rings, The doctor now was walking on a circular platform attached to the wall and seemed to be searching for something, Layton noticed the device that he was holding in his hands, it produced a weird buzzing sound and the tip emitted a dim green light. Suddenly the doctor's face seem to clear and he picked something up.

"There you are, why are you always so small?" He threw it to Layton, who just could catch it. "It's a hint coin. You asked me to give it the first time i met you. Yet i never worked out what they actually do."  
Layton looked at the hint coin, clearly this man knew something about him. He looked to the doctor. "Why have you landed your box in my office?"  
The doctor stopped staring at something under the bridge Layton was standing on. "An old enemy of mine, the master, has teamed up with someone you met before, Jean Descole."

The professor finally understood why this man had came to him. "Well then, Why don't we start by getting to the Layton mobile and drive to the place he is hiding?"  
The doctor walked to the console in the center, i'm afraid the Layton mobile won't be able to reach it. He started to pull at some levers and push some buttons, but before we start our adventure we still have to pick someone up. The wheezing, groaning sound started to appear again and the the door closed behind him, and walked back to the console. After the noise stopped the doctor faced him again.

"It would be best if you were the one to open those doors."  
Layton slowly walked towards the doors and grabbed the handle, after opening them a baffled Luke seemed to stand behind them, It appeared as the box now stood in the middle of Luke's room in Misthallery.

"Say hi for me?" He heard the doctor saying.


	3. puzzle platform

Luke stared at the Professor, clearly he was amazed about the fact that he was aboard the blue box himself.  
The doctor suddenly stepped out of the box, now standing between them. "Now, we won't have much time, so Luke, if i will follow me into the TARDIS?"  
Layton looked at the blue box, so it was called a TARDIS? he wondered what kind of puzzles it held  
"Well don't just stand there. come inside!"  
Layton quickly stepped back into the TARDIS, followed by luke, who closed the doors.  
"Now, before you ask: yes, it can travel in time. Yes, it's bigger on the inside, and yes, we are going to another planet."  
Layton and Luke looked at the doctor in horror. "What?"  
"Oh, don't react like that, it's a harmless little planet. Very safe."

The noise stopped and the doctor ran past them to the door, opening them with a big smile on his face. "I always like this part, the view of a brand new world!"  
The door opened, coming out in a dark room, Layton wasn't able to see further than two meter.  
"Okay, not what i expected, i think i should stop with saying things are safe."

The doctor walked out of the TARDIS, using that strange device again, pointing it in all directions, Layton and luke walked out too, now standing outside of the TARDIS it seemed to be a huge room, as they could hear the echoes of their footsteps.  
The group suddenly heard a mechanical whirring, and the TARDIS vanished into the floor, leaving nothing behin

"Not again." The doctor walked to the place the TARDIS stood and pointed his sonic at the ground, it seemed that the ground was solid again. he scanned further and a square hole appeared, around 3 centimeters deep and dimly lit, with pieces lying loose around in them.  
"What do we have here?" The doctor looked at the pieces.  
Layton walked to the other side. "It seems like a-"

"Puzzle number zero zero one." The doctor, Layton and luke looked up, a voice echoed loud in the dark room.  
"The TARDIS vanished, leaving nothing but a puzzle behind. i recommend you place the pieces so that they fit in the square."  
The doctor looked at Layton, who looked back, sorrow in his face. Luke grabbed hold of one of the pieces, formed like a U."Maybe i can solve this puzzle!"

Layton seemed to agree, as he nodded towards Luke, who began by placing a rather annoyingly shaped piece in a corner. it seemed he struggled a bit, but after a while he placed the last of the pieces in the opposite corner of where he placed his first piece. He took a step back and mechanical whirring could be heard again. The doctor took out his sonic and pointed it at the puzzle, but before he could do anything it was gone and a large wooden structure came out of the ground.  
"Could it be?"Layton's face seemed to hint traces of recognition.  
"Have you seen this before?"

Hershel looked at the doctor"The last time i faced Descole he used this to signify the remaining time of the puzzle."  
The doctor looked back at the wooden structure, it seemed to be something to play sheet music, a sheet was already placed, but before the doctor could read it lights flashed up at the floor, it seemed as they were on an octagonal platform surrounded by nothing but blackness, more lights went on, revealing the walls of the room, it was a large round room, no ceiling or floor to see, made from what seemed like rusted iron pipeworks."  
"Well done Layton, it seems you have trained your apprentice well." it was impossible to pinpoint the origin of the voice.

"Puzzle number zero zero two." the floor of the platform became transparent, revealing a maze, about the height of a football, under the feet of professor Layton lay a green ball. and behind the doctor a hole which seemed to be the goal.  
the voice echoed through the room again. "There is a ball under your feet Layton, it will follow your steps. The goal is to get it to the other side of the platform. something you should be able to do, guide the ball to the hole..." A blue colored ball now appeared under the doctor. "without touching the ball of your friend."


	4. remember

The doctor and Layton looked at each other, and then at the maze under them, it seemed as there was only one place for Layton to get past the ball of the doctor and that was at a far right,  
The doctor looked back at the professor again and it seemed he had the same idea as him. They carefully walked around the maze, followed by their balls, who seemed to have an internal mechanism for moving. Luke seemed to look quite interested at this problem, his face cleared up, it seemed like he had solved it too.

The doctor and Layton now were a step away from each other, and trying to get the two balls to fit in the right place, the doctor succeeded and Layton was now able to guide the ball to the hole.  
Layton stepped over the hole and the ball fell in. The ball under the doctor disappeared too and the floor became gray again.  
"Congratulations, it seems that you can solve puzzles as well doctor."

The doctor and professor walked back to the center of the platform, waiting to be given the next puzzle.  
"Puzzle number zero zero three, this one is for you doctor, since you're good at puzzles as well." The voice became hateful, and the doctor began to worry that the one behind the microphone wouldn't let the doctor escape easily.

A loud whirring was heard again, and four bridges came into view. Connecting in a cross pattern with the platform. at the wall ends of the bridges the wall opened, revealing hallways that looked like the one in the TARDIS, when the bridges stopped and reached the platform, four holograms appeared.  
The doctor knew them too well, unfortunately, there were four of his previous incarnations. The fourth, the first, the fifth and his previous, all looking like they, or he, just lost someone.

"Which incarnation lost the most doctor?" Again, the voice was laced with hate, the doctor looked down, he hoped not to think about this for at least a while, and the music started playing, signifying the time left.  
"I'm sorry to interrupt doctor, but who are these men? And what did he mean by incarnation?"  
The doctor looked at Layton, not knowing where to start. "Well, to start, I'm not human." Layton seemed a bit taken aback by this, yet looked like he already figured it out a bit. "I'm from a race called the time lords, when we die we regenerate. we live on as someone else, almost, we still remember our previous incarnations, but we act different, think different..."

Luke looked at the doctor. seeing a hint of fear in his eyes.  
"Each of my incarnations had their friends, each of my incarnations lost them." The doctor was now too speaking to himself, trying to keep himself together as he remembered those moments he had to say goodbye.  
The music started to reach the middle. and the doctor looked at each of his regenerations. He stared at his previous and suddenly remembered Jenny, a feeling of sadness rushed over him again and he slowly started to walk to the bridge that stood besides his tenth regeneration, followed by Layton and Luke.

"Congratulations again, you do seem to know your history doctor." The other three doctors faded, and as Layton and Luke stepped on the bridge, the central platform filled with the companions the doctor lost in that incarnation.  
The professor seemed amazed. "Are these the people that you lost?" Luke now looked at him.  
"The people i lost in that incarnation, yes." The doctor's voice broken.  
Silently Luke stared at the platform, the doctor couldn't see his face. but he could guess what it looked like, the doctor stared at the people he lost such a long time ago, as the bridge suddenly started moving. throwing everyone on it a bit out of balance.

"I think they want us into the hallways." The doctor looked behind him, seeing the hallways that looked so similar to the ones in his TARDIS, the group quickly stepped off the bridge and in the corridor. The room turned dark as the voice appeared out of the corridor.  
"Puzzle number zero zero four. At the end of this hallway is your TARDIS, doctor. But there are many dead ends and dangers. To make it even harder. after ten minutes the light will turn off. success doctor." The music started playing again, yet similar, it was a different tune. it sounded darker. coming from a far end of the hallways.


	5. TARDIS hallways

"Hershel? do you have any experience with mazes?" The doctor noticed a hint of despair in his voice, one he didn't wanted to hear.  
Layton seemed to think deeply, his face cleared a bit as he seem to realise something. "We could follow the music, it seems to come from inside the corridor, and maybe the end."  
The doctor agreed, it seemed as a solid plan, he grabbed his sonic and started to scan as they walked, hoping not to bump into anything dangerous. after a while the music started to slow down. and eventually stopped. the doctor could have one glance of Layton before the light went out. nothing but blackness was to be seen, and he could hear Luke, clearly afraid.  
"Luke, Layton. wait five seconds. i'll get some light." As the doctor activated his sonic, it shed a dim, green light across the corridor, revealing a heavily damaged cyberman behind Layton.

"HERSHEL!" The doctor ran towards them, as the cybermen already started to aim at the pair, Layton looked behind him and ran with luke in a side corridor, leaving the doctor to jump sideways to avoid the laser. He ran in the same corridor and started to search his pocket, not finding what he was searching for. "Why do i always delay the annual pocket cleaning?" He murmured to himself.

The doctor suddenly found what he was looking for: a device he made for jamming circuits, he never finished it because it also worked on the TARDIS lighting systems, happily she wasn't around now. The doctor hid behind a corner and looked at the device, his tenth regeneration always had a thing with making things hard to activate. The doctor looked at the back and saw three buttons, he looked at them for a second and pressed the middle one, hoping it was the right one.  
The device buzzed a bit and suddenly gave three loud beeps, the doctor quickly lay it on the ground and large sparks erupted from it. The doctor looked around the corner, seeing the cyberman collapse loudly. He slowly walked towards it and heard a loud explosion behind him, remembering why he never used the device, it explodes after use, and made a mental note to fix that if he ever was going to make one again.

"Hershel! where are you?"  
"Over here!"  
The doctor ran towards them, seeing both of them were okay. "We should keep moving, if there are other threats here, they surely heard the explosion."  
Layton nodded, and helped luke up, who seemed to have tripped on his own feet. The doctor grabbed his sonic again and carefully walked passed the cyberman, he tapped it carefully with his shoe, the device seemed to have worked, good.

"Doctor, what exactly is that thing?" Layton seemed to be uneasy around it, can't blame him.  
"It's a cyberman. An upgraded human as they like to call themselves, they replace everything with metal and strip the brain of emotions. making it their life's goal to convert more."  
Luke seem to dislike the cyberman even more now and quickly ran past it. Hiding behind the doctor.  
"Relax, i deactivated it. But we need to keep moving, are you coming Hershel?"

Layton quickly walked past the cyberman and followed the doctor, light now could be seen peeking around a corner and the three quickly ran towards the light, a flash blinded the doctor. After a few seconds he could see something blue in a middle of a white room. The doctor squinted his eyes and regained full sight, seeing the master and Jean descole standing before the TARDIS, with a large grin on each of their faces.


	6. meeting old friends

"Hello again doctor, how nice to see you." Pride wasn't hard to be found in the master's face, he was dressed in a black suit, the same he wore when he acted to be mister Saxon.  
The doctor didn't respond. looking behind the master, it seemed that the TARDIS was shielded by a, possibly deadlocked, forcefield. Looking besides him Layton and Luke seemed equally surprised as he was seeing descole teaming up with the master.  
"I hope you have enjoyed my little maze." The master laughed, and the doctor was asking himself when this was happening for the master.

"Why do you want my TARDIS? I ramped up the security since you last came in there, coming in will be impossible."  
The master scoffed."It's not about the TARDIS, it's about it's technology. As you remember, Layton. Dimitri tried to build a time machine."  
The doctor looked at Layton, it was clear that he was surprised at the fact that the master knew this.  
"What are you trying to accomplish now master?" Even though he asked this, the doctor already knew what, but hoped it wouldn't be true.

"Thanks to Jean and your TARDIS we managed to recreate this." He held up his arm, showing a vortex manipulator. "Let's have a little fun, shall we?"  
Descole smiled, the doctor didn't like that. "Before we leave doctor, one last puzzle: the deadlocked forcefield around your TARDIS can only be solved by that puzzle there." He pointed at a small hole in the wall, where a sliding puzzle could be seen.  
"Unfortunately we have to leave now, goodbye doctor." Descole showed another vortex manipulator around his wrist and pressed the activate button. Both of them disappeared, leaving the trio alone in a now dark room.

"Hershel, i think you are the best qualified to solve that puzzle. I'll try and fix the lights."  
He heard Layton walk towards the puzzle and tried to fix the lights, it took him a few seconds, it seemed like they were partially deadlocked, but why do that?

"Hershel, how is it going with the puzzle?" the doctor walked to Layton, who was now busy pushing pieces around.  
"They did a good job coming up with this puzzle, this is one of the hardest i ever tried to solve."  
The doctor's hope crumbled a bit, if Layton couldn't solve this, no-one could. Head hanging the doctor put his hands in his pocket, and looked at the floor of the room, realising a large picture was carved in it. The doctor took a few steps back and realised it was: a large hint coin, just as the one Layton gave him.

"Hershel, do you still have that hint coin?" The doctor couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.  
Layton looked at the doctor, seeing a smile appear on his face as he took the hint coin out of his pocket. "Doctor, you are a true genius." He used the hint coin and started moving pieces again.  
In the meantime the doctor looked around the room a bit, the door behind them seemed to be deadlocked too. So the master clearly didn't want them to escape. The doctor looked at the ceiling. wondering why it was so low, looking back at the wall the doctor noticed why.

"Hershel, i think you'd better hurry."  
Layton looked up from the puzzle, looked at the ceiling for a second and directly went back to the puzzle.  
"What is the matter?" Luke was looking around the room trying to see what was wrong.  
"The ceiling is slowly getting lower." The doctor noticed the dark undertone in his voice as he pointed his sonic at the ceiling, seemingly the mechanism that controlled the ceiling was deadlocked too, it seemed that the master really thought this through.

"Hershel, it would be very nice if you could solve that puzzle, the sooner the better."  
Hershel didn't respond. He took another look at the hint and started moving the pieces again, the doctor went to Layton, taking a look at the puzzle too.  
"Wait, stop. move that bit down." he analyzed the puzzle with his sonic, and looked at it.

"You can solve this with your device?" Layton sounded annoyed.  
"Unfortunately i can't, something annoying in the software architecture, i just wanted to shine a funny light.  
Layton looked at the doctor for a few seconds, and started moving the pieces again, the key piece now started to really come into the right direction, the ceiling already had dropped ten centimeters in the meantime, so the doctor started to help Layton solve the puzzle.


	7. table trouble

One minute later the key piece finally fitted in the right place letting the force field vanish, the doctor ran towards the TARDIS and quickly opened it, rushing to the console, Layton and Luke followed, and the doctor started the TARDIS, it shook violently and suddenly came to a stop, almost knocking Layton and Luke from their feet.  
"What happened?" Luke was clearly confused.

"The TARDIS hacked into the vortex manipulators of the master and Descole. I forced them to land at this exact moment in time and space. It is important that they won't get their hands on time travel, i've seen more than enough people abusing it, imagine what the master could do with it." Saying this the doctor ran out of the door, ignoring the questioning faces. Outside the master and Descole were standing in front of them, it was indeed the location he wanted, they stood in the middle of the ruins of a small castle, shrouded in mist, the doctor knew that the outer walls were built at the edge of a large ravin. So he knew the master wouldn't escape by running away. A raven could be heard from the top of the remains of the central tower, and the five simply stood there, waiting for the other to do something.

"Give it up master, i hacked your vortex manipulator, there is nowhere left for you to run to."  
The master fixed his tie angrily, and Descole didn't seem like he would be able to control himself for long.  
After a while the master silently took of his vortex manipulator, and threw it on the ground. Angrily staring at the doctor.  
"A cargo ship will arrive in two hours, from there i am willing to let you go anywhere in the universe again." The doctor sighed, he hated it that he couldn't trust the master sometimes.

"Hershel, Luke, please get back in the TARDIS."  
Layton and Luke went inside, and the doctor faced the master again.  
"Please master, you don't have to own everything, seeing it is already enough, we could travel together."  
The master scoffed. "Doctor, i'd rather die than travel with you,"  
The doctor's face grew dark, and he walked back to the TARDIS. Starting her.

"What happened?" Luke stared at the door.  
"I asked him to come, but an enemy doesn't easily become a friend, in most cases, at least..."  
The doctor ignored the questioning faces from the two again and walked back to the door again, revealing Luke's room.  
"Is this it?" Luke's clearly sounded surprised

"I'm afraid so, but don't worry, i'm certain Descole will find his way back to earth, i know the master." the doctor walked in Luke's room, picking up a stuffed animal from the corner.  
After a while Luke faced the doctor again. "Will we see you again?"  
The doctor smiled. "I don't know, for me it's still unwritten." he put the stuffed animal back and faced Layton. "Should i give you a ride home?"  
"I think i already have seen enough impossible things for one day. But thank you." Layton smiled and looked at the interior of the TARDIS,

The doctor slowly turned and stepped back into the TARDIS, hearing her making her usual sounds again.  
"Shall we, old girl?"  
"Doctor?"  
The doctor looked back, seeing Layton seeing in the doorstep.  
"Would it be possible to invite you for a cup of tea?"  
The doctor smiled. "Why not, it's been a while, after all. By the way, we shouldn't forget the table i accidentally picked up."


End file.
